Garland's shot puts No. 13 seed La Salle into Sweet 16

March 24, 2013|By David Smale, The Sports Xchange | Reuters

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - La Salle coach John Giannini doesn't like the term "Cinderella" describing his team. He'd better get used to it.

Tyrone Garland's floater in traffic with 2.5 seconds remaining gave La Salle a 76-74 victory over Mississippi in the third round of the NCAA Tournament at Sprint Center on Sunday. The Explorers became the sixth 13th seed in NCAA Tournament history to advance to the Sweet 16.

"We expect another tough game and a chance to win," Giannini said. "No more, no less. What people label us, we try not to acknowledge. Going into next year, if people talk about how great we're going to be, we'll try not to listen. If people question us, we just don't listen. We care about basketball and we care about preparing. That's how we'll go into this weekend.

La Salle will face ninth-seeded Wichita State in the West Regional semifinals Thursday in Los Angeles.

La Salle had the ball with 33 seconds left in a tie game. Tyreek Duren dribbled the ball at the top of the key until about 10 seconds remained, then he drove the lane. Garland followed him, and Duren dished it back to Garland. Garland then floated a shot over Reginald Buckner, the all-time leading shot-blocker in Mississippi history.

"I've always said that winning teams make winning plays," Mississippi coach Andy Kennedy said. "They made winning plays down the stretch and therefore they move forward."

The winning play may have been "diagrammed" many years ago on the playgrounds of Philadelphia.

"It's actually called the 'Southwest Floater,'" said Garland, who grew up in Philly. "When you see a big defender, just lay the ball up. I just was hearing that as I was growing up playing in the playgrounds.

"When the time was running down, it was flat. I had a feeling I could make the drive, so I told Ramon (Galloway), 'Switch.' It wasn't even in the plans, I just told him to switch. When Tyreek drove, as coach always says, 'Cut behind him.' I saw the opening, I laid the ball in."

The teams traded buckets for most of the second half. After Henderson hit a baseline jumper to tie the score at 42 with 18:34 left, neither team scored consecutive buckets until Holloway followed his own missed free throw for a second straight layup at the 10:40 mark.

Henderson followed that by hitting a 3-pointer, and Mississippi led 59-55.

La Salle tied it at 62-62, but Mississippi went on a quick 7-2 run to grab its biggest lead. The Explorers answered with a 5-0 run, and the score was knotted again at 69-69.

Jarvis Summers sank a jumper to give Ole Miss a 71-69 lead, but Duren's 3-pointer gave the lead back to La Salle. Buckner's layup in traffic put the Rebels back on top, and LaDarius White's free throw extended the lead to 74-72. Duren went to the line with 1:07 left and hit both ends of a one-and-one to tie the score at 74-74.

Henderson's shot with 33 seconds left missed everything, and La Salle took over the ball with the shot clock turned off.

So La Salle moves on, after winning three games in five days. Giannini says his guys aren't tired, and they agreed with him.

"You know, we're pretty young," Galloway said. "It just feels like AAU all over again. We play a game, go to sleep, wake up and play another game."

Galloway scored 19 first-half points. He was 5-for-8 from 3-point range, helping La Salle take a 40-38 lead at halftime. Only three other Explorers scored in the first half. Garland had nine points, Duren added eight, and Jerrell Wright had four.

Meanwhile, Henderson led Mississippi with 11 first-half points on three 3-pointers. He shot nine times from beyond the arc prior to intermission.

NOTES: La Salle, which defeated Boise State in the First Four and Kansas State in the second round, won two straight in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since advancing to the title game in 1955. The Explorers won the 1954 championship. They are just the second team (VCU in 2011 is the other) to win three games in five days in the NCAA Tournament. ... Ole Miss was seeking its second trip to the Sweet 16 in school history following a 2001 run that also began in Kansas City, though in Kemper Arena. The Rebels beat Iona and Notre Dame in 2001. ... With their victory over Wisconsin on Friday, the 2013 Rebels tied the 2001 team for the most wins in school history, 27.